Archive for the '*Recipes: C IS FOR COOKIES' Category

This year our two blueberry bushes, planted 3-4 years ago, finally produced a lot of blueberries and we had enough for several different treats. I made two sorts of blueberry cakes and we also ate them plain them as a healthy snack. And there was even enough blueberries to top these wonderful, tangy and refreshing lemon mousses with crunchy crumble. The crumble gives a nice crunchy contrast to the smooth mousse and the blueberries give a fresh finishing touch.

Crumble
50 gram butter
50 gram flour
50 gram sugar
a pinch of salt

Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour mixture. Keep rubbing until the mixture resembles crumbs. Sprinkle on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in 200 degrees C until golden, stir a couple of times during baking. Leave to cool.

Put the gelatine leaves into a small cup containing 2 tbsp water (or sprinkle gelatine powder into the water). In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with an electric beater until fluffy and light. In a second bowl beat egg yolks and sugar with an electric beater until fluffy and pale. In a third bowl, whip the cream.

When the gelatine has soaked up the water, place the cup in a pan of simmering water (don’t boil) and stir until melted. Let cool slightly. Combine lemon zest and juice with the gelatine mixture. Then carefully add the whipped cream, egg yolks and sugar (and quark, if used). Finally gently fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture. Divide the mousse between 4-5 glasses or cups and chill until firm. Serve with crumbles and fresh bilberries or blueberries.

In January I had the honor to bake for a Red Cross charity event for separated refugee children (i.e. children that have arrived in Sweden all alone without any relatives). I wanted to bake something colourful for the kids, something that would make them smile. So I baked lovely spiral cookies and also mini cupcakes that I donated to the event. I never saw the kids as I only left the cookies before the event started, but they were supposedly very popular. I used this recipe at Sprinkle Bakes for the cookies and my own recipe for the mini cupcakes. I had so much fun baking and I hope to do this more times.

These adorable and moist mini cupcakes only contain 3 ingredients: eggs, chocolate and butter. The chocolate cake recipe came to my attention being one of the monthly challenges in “Daring Bakers” and thus popping up all over the internet. Regretfully I’m not a Daring Baker anymore due to lack of time, but never the less I do recommend this recipe. It’s very versatile and you can bake cupcakes, mini cupcakes, cakes or what ever with this lovely recipe. I chose to do mini cupcakes as I was making dessert for a New Year’s party at Lena’s with many guests. I made two batches and I ended up with more than 50 mini cupcakes. On a side note they they were quite easy to transport and not too fragile despite traveling by bus, metro and finally train.

For topping I made a “fluff”, which is widely known in Sweden lately, you basically melt 180 grams of candy or chocolate into 300 ml heavy cream. It’s important not to let it boil. Leave in the fridge overnight and then whip it up with an electric beater until fluffy and light. For this variant I used Polly which is a Swedish chocolate candy with array flavour. After whipping the “fluff” I piped the cupcakes and as a finishing touch I decorated each cupcake with a raspberry.

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cupcakes will be dry).

With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.

Pour batter into mini cupcake molds, the ones I use are called “småbrödsformar”. The batter should fill only 3/4 way up. Bake at 175 degrees C for 10 minutes.

After making the raspberry marshmallows I got the idea of substituting the raspberries with pineapple and the icing sugar with desiccated coconut. I also considered adding rum, but decided to skip it in the very last minute. I like the outcome, but not as much as the raspberry ones. I believe that the pineapple flavor is too vague despite the hint of tartness added by some fresh lime juice. I will try making a new batch with some adjustments as I want to intensify the pineapple flavor, but the marshmallows are still very tasty as they are!

Line a cake pan (mine is 22 cm x 30 cm) with parchment paper. Dust it generously with desiccated coconut.

Mix the pineapple in its own juice in a blender or mixer until you have a smooth puree. Add juice from 1 lime. Combine with gelatine and set aside.

Combine caster sugar and water in a pan. Cook over medium heat while stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat a bit and cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 125 degrees C. Remove from heat and let cool for max 1 minute. In the meantime beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until frothy. Carefully add the pineapple puree to the sugar/water mixture and stir until the gelatine dissolves. Gradually add the warm pineapple mixture to the egg whites while continuing to beat on medium speed. When the mixture has doubled in size decrease the speed and continue to mix until the mixture is about 40 degrees C. Pour the mixture into the cake pan, spread evenly and dust the top generously with coconut. Let the marshmallow batter set in room temperature for at least 3 hours. Make sure that it’s firm before you start cutting with a sharp knife. Cut into squares and dip in desiccated coconut.

Store the marshmallows in an airtight container in room temperature. They will last up to two weeks, but you’ll probably eat them all long before that…Don’t forget to put a sheet of parchment paper between each layer.

As a teenager I had a long period when I made vanilla marshmallows on a regular basis, but as the years passed the marshmallow making slipped my mind. One week ago I found this amazing raspberry marshmallow recipe at Butter Sugar Flour. I would have never thought about combining homemade marshmallows with fruit. Do I need to mention that these lovely marshmallows were a hit at both my and my husband’s office?

Raspberry Marshmallows(adapted from Butter Sugar Flour. The original recipe calls for raspberries, making your own puree, but since I already had raspberry puree in the freezer I went with that instead. I also decreased the sugar a tiny bit and used icing sugar for dusting as I don’t have snow sugar which was called for in the original recipe).

Line a cake pan (mine is 22 cm x 30 cm) with parchment paper. Dust it generously with icing sugar.

Combine the raspberry puree with gelatine in a bowl. Set aside.

Combine caster sugar and water in a pan. Cook over medium heat while stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat a bit and cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 125 degrees C. Remove from heat and let cool for max 1 minute. In the meantime beat egg whites and a pinch of salt until frothy. Carefully add the raspberry puree to the sugar/water mixture and stir until the gelatine dissolves. Gradually add the warm raspberry mixture to the egg whites while continuing to beat on medium speed. When the mixture has doubled in size decrease the speed and continue to mix until the mixture is about 40 degrees C. Pour the mixture into the cake pan, spread evenly and dust the top generously with icing sugar. Let the marshmallow batter set in room temperature for at least 3 hours. Make sure that it’s firm before you start cutting with a sharp knife. Cut into squares and roll in icing sugar.

Store the raspberry marshmallows in an airtight container in room temperature. They will last up to two weeks, but you’ll probably eat them all long before that…Don’t forget to put a sheet of parchment paper between each layer.

These yummy cookies are my second submission to the cookie contest arranged by Göteborgskex. They are absolutely delicious and contain crushed Polkagris which is a peppermint flavored candy cane from the town of Gränna in Sweden. The cookies are chewy with a delectable peppermint flavor that fits perfect with the dark chocolate. My husband brought them to work today and they were extremely popular.

I’ll post the recipe in Swedish first, and further down you’ll find it in English.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric beater until fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine to a crumbly dough with the electric beater. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Press each cookie gently with your hand. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes in 175 degrees C (convection oven). These cookies spread during baking, so make sure to enough space on the baking sheet. Be careful not to burn yourself on the melted candy.

I was asked to participate in a cookie baking competition for bloggers, “Bageriets Bästa Bake Off Challenge”, arranged by Göteborgskex. I thought it would be fun to participate and it would also force me to spend some time on my neglected blog… We’re allowed to compose and post three cookie recipes for the competition and my first recipe is a lovely cookie consisting of toasted oat flour (skrädmjöl in Swedish), sour cherries and pistachios. I wasn’t sure about the combination first, but the tart cherries complement the pistachios and toasted oat flour really nice and the final result was scrumptious. The toasted oat flour gives the cookies a great nutty touch so please don’t substitute it if you want to make these cookies at home.

I’ll post the recipe in Swedish first, and further down you’ll find it in English.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric beater until fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine to a crumbly dough with the electric beater. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Press each cookie gently with your hand. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes in 175 degrees C (convection oven).

Food Links

Misc.

Search

A cat in the kitchen is proudly powered by
WordPressCopyright 2005 - 2006 A Cat in the Kitchen
All photos were taken by Dagmar T. and are property of her if nothing else is mentioned.
Entries (RSS)
and Comments (RSS).
27 queries. 0.226 seconds.